Kiss Kiss Fang Fang
Mystery of the congressman and the Chinese spy
California Congressman Eric Swalwell is refusing to say if he carried on an intimate relationship with a suspected Chinese spy who reportedly bedded two Midwestern mayors while trying to infiltrate the US political system.
Swalwell — a member of the House Intelligence Committee — has acknowledged being one of several Bay Area Democrats targeted by accused honey trap Fang Fang, also known as Christine Fang, who reportedly came to the United States as a college student in 2011 and spent the next four years wooing lawmakers in a bid for access to sensitive US intelligence.
Swalwell’s office has said he cooperated with an FBI probe into Fang’s activities but declined to answer any questions, telling Axios — which revealed the investigation on Tuesday — he wouldn’t discuss “information that might be classified.”
That excuse was later extended to cover whether the 40-year-old, twice-married father of two was among Fang’s Mata Hari-style conquests, Fox News host Tucker Carlson said after putting the question to Swalwell’s office.
“His staff replied by saying that they could not comment whether Swalwell had a sexual relationship with Fang because that information might be, quote, classified,” Carlson said on his show Tuesday night.
Swalwell also sidestepped the issue of his relationship with Fang during a Tuesday interview with Politico.
“As the story referenced, this goes back to the beginning of the last decade, and it’s something that congressional leadership knew about it,” he said in dodging the matter.
But while Swalwell claims he hasn’t seen Fang in “nearly six years,” his father, also named Eric, and brother, Joshua, still have her listed as a “friend” on their Facebook pages.
And Fang shared a 2016 Facebook post from Joshua that linked to a video of him and his brother.
On Wednesday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) expressed outrage over the revelation from Axios’ yearlong reporting that the FBI alerted Swalwell to its concerns about Fang during a “defensive briefing” around 2015.
“Democrats get defensive briefings when there are concerns about foreign influence, but when it came
to President @realDonaldTrump they used a counter-intelligence investigation to spy on his campaign,” tweeted Graham, referring to the veil of secrecy maintained while Trump’s 2016 campaign was being probed over allegations of ties to Russia.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said, “For four years, President Trump was accused of being a Russian operative.
“It’s absolutely breathtakingly remarkable that the entity that was under control of a foreign power was the Democrats, including Eric Swalwell.
“It was never Russia and the Republicans; it was the Democrats and China.”
Trump’s son Donald Jr. said the situation was “truly a national-security threat” and noted Swalwell was among the loudest voices calling for his dad to be probed.
Swalwell, who has been accused of leaking information about the impeachment probe of Trump, on Wednesday tried to make himself out to be the victim of a smear campaign, griping about the fact the information came to light.
“The wrongdoing here is the same time this story was being leaked out is the time that I was working on impeachment,” he said. “And I hope it is investigated as to who leaked this information.”
Fang first interacted with Swalwell when he served on the Dublin City Council in California, according to Politico. In 2012, Swalwell upset longtime Democratic incumbent Rep. Pete Stark.
A couple of years later, Fang was bundling donor checks for Swalwell’s reelection campaign, and also helped place an intern in his office, according to the Axios report, which cited current and former US intelligence officials.